Of course, one should not carry the impression that Indian dietary practices are without problems. Most of our snacks tend to use the process of frying. This is bad for us in many ways.

We also have the tendency to add a little extra oil or ghee to enhance taste. Excess of most food is bad, but excess of fat in the diet — particularly of the wrong variety — can cause weight and heart problems at rapid rates.

Vanaspati — the great Indian cooking medium for decades whose popularity has only just begun to diminish — has played havoc with the nation’s health. I am dismayed to note that it is still in regular use in the manufacture of biscuits, potato chips and confectionary without any qualms.

This is endangering the health of children and the young. In spite of the supplemental strategies we practice, the Indian vegetarian diets seem to be short on proteins. As a majority of the population is vegetarian, we tend not to meet protein requirements. Adding soya, nuts and seeds to our diets would take us a long way in fulfilling that shortfall.

The average Indian vegetarian diet is likely to be deficient in vitamin B12, which is abundant only in the non-vegetarian sources of food. In fact, there is informed speculation in current scientific circles that this deficiency of B12 in the Indian diet may well be linked to the diabetes explosion, particularly in pregnant women. We also have a huge population of people deficient in iron. It is hard to get iron in the easy to absorb state from vegetarian food sources.

... contd.